Nutrient Management Strategies to Headline Virtual Farmer Meeting

Farmers and landowners are encouraged to join their peers from Maryland's Catoctin Creek Watershed on October 22 for a free virtual event. The event focuses on incorporating conservation agriculture and soil health practices to create stronger farm businesses and includes a virtual dairy farm tour. Mike McMahon will host the webinar, a winner of the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy's 2018 U.S. Dairy Sustainability Award. Additional hosts include USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service in Maryland, Farm Journal Foundation, and Farm Journal's Trust In Food initiative. Using a combination of video and live streaming, McMahon will illustrate his operation’s conservation ag investments and share insights about how other farmers can increase their operations' sustainability and profitability. The event includes updates on soil health and manure management innovation in the ag equipment market from a panel of directors and executives from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers. Farmers can register at farmjournal.com

Wednesday Watch List

Markets

Wednesday morning will find traders still considering USDA's latest round of estimates, checking the weather forecasts and watching for any news of an export sale. The U.S. Labor Department's report on September consumer prices is set for 7:30 a.m. CDT and is likely to show an increase in energy prices. The U.S. Energy Department's weekly report of energy inventories is pushed to Thursday as a part of this week's federal holiday schedule. The Federal Reserve will release minutes from its latest FOMC meeting at 2 p.m. CDT.

Weather

A strong storm system is moving through the Northern Plains with a shield of moderate to heavy rain and snow and a cold front that continues scattered showers across the Central and Southern Plains and into the western Midwest. This system is not only making an impact with precipitation, but strong winds are also noted for a good portion of the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest as well Wednesday, along with a couple of bouts of severe weather along the cold front. Widespread freezes have settled in across the West and will leak into the Plains as well.

Supply Chain Issues to Persists into 2022

A quarterly report from CoBank suggests that while the U.S. economy is still very much in the grips of the pandemic. Supply chains are arguably in the most dire condition since the start of the pandemic, as lead times for manufacturing inputs recently reached record highs. Persistent supply chain disruptions and labor shortages are adding significant costs to businesses and consumers. A CoBank researcher suggests, “Supply chain snarls are likely to persist well into 2022, and so will elevated inflation.” Rapidly rising input costs and product shortages are hitting agriculture, as commodity prices have flattened, and inflation compresses margins. However, robust exports have kept much of agriculture in the black. CoBank says corn, soybean and wheat prices declined from their third-quarter highs, but will likely rebound due to tight supplies and improving demand. Returning demand from foodservice led to strength to U.S. meat and poultry. However, inflation is expected to test consumers' appetite for meat during the fourth quarter.

AFBF Forms Partnership with MANRRS

The American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Society for Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences announced an agreement to increase minority involvement in agriculture. The groups signed a memorandum of understanding for collaboration on projects. The projects include written content for each organization's publications, providing leadership training and expertise, and cross-promoting programs and events. AFBF President Zippy Duvall says, "We believe the partnership we're forming today will benefit both of our organizations and all of agriculture." Dr. Olga Bolden-Tiller, President of the National Society of MANRRS, adds the partnership will ensure "all of the voices of the agricultural community are heard as we work together to develop a well-trained workforce." The partnership is a continuation of AFBF's goal to expand coalitions and alliances to increase the effectiveness of its grassroots organization. Other partnerships include FFA and 4-H, which foster the growth of young people interested in pursuing careers in agriculture.

USDA Commits $25 Million for Programs reaching Underserved Communities

The Department of Agriculture last week announced a trio of awards totaling nearly $25 million in grants and cooperative agreements. The funding seeks to ensure broader access and participation in USDA programs and services for historically underserved farmers and ranchers. The effort is the latest in a series of announcements around USDA's commitment to root out generations of systemic racism, center equity in decision-making and policymaking, lower barriers to access and ensure USDA programming is inclusive of all employees and all customers. One set of awards announced Friday includes $18.6 million in grants to provide training, outreach, and technical assistance to historically underserved and veteran farmers and ranchers in 21 states through USDA's 2501 Program. Additionally, USDA's Farm Service Agency is awarding $4.7 million to organizations for projects that will provide historically underserved producers with improved access and technical assistance as they apply for and FSA programs and services.

USDA Investment to Strengthen Hispanic-Serving Higher Education

The Department of Agriculture recently announced $12 million for Hispanic-serving Institutions of higher education. The announcement last week was part of a launch of the first in a series of virtual roundtable engagement sessions with Minority-serving Institutions and Land-grant Universities serving underrepresented students. The funding is part of USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture's Hispanic-serving Institutions Education Grants Program. It includes investments in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Puerto Rico and Texas. As part of the funding, California State University, Long Beach, will use $975,000 for its "Leveraging Interdisciplinary Nutritional Knowledge" Program. The program aims to support undergraduate and graduate students in the food and human sciences professional and scientific workforce. Texas A&M, Kingsville, will use its $975,000 grant to support its Getting Occupational Student Training in Agricultural Research Through Novel Workshops project. Through this project, students are exposed to experiential-based learning and partnerships with USDA researchers.

McDonald's Seeks net Zero Emissions by 2050

McDonald's Corporation recently announced a commitment to achieve net-zero emissions across its global operations by 2050. The company is joining the United Nations Race to Zero campaign and signing on to the Science Based Targets initiative's Business Ambition for 1.5°C campaign. McDonald's will increase the emissions reduction levels in its existing 2030 science-based target and will set a long-term reduction target to reach net-zero emissions. Efforts underway since 2018 have already resulted in an 8.5 percent reduction in the absolute emissions of restaurants and offices and a 5.9 percent decrease in supply chain emissions intensity against a 2015 baseline. McDonald's says a world with lower greenhouse gas emissions will result in more favorable conditions for farmers and ranchers. Efforts by the company to meet the goal include reducing emissions in its supply chain, empowering employees to innovate and use locally tailored solutions, and offer insights to others to reduce emissions in forest, land and agriculture.